I frequently point to health professional recovery programs when discussing the effectiveness of drug-free treatment when it's delivered in the appropriate dose, frequency and duration. They have stellar outcomes. (More details here.) The programs were abstinence-based, requiring physicians to abstain from any use of alcohol or other drugs of abuse as assessed by frequent random … Continue reading Too expensive? (2015)
Category: Treatment
Faith is given in sufficient quantities to communities
I recently listened to an interview with Nadia Bolz-Weber. There were a lot of keepers in the interview (even for a non-believer). She's described as a recovering drug addict. Her recovery shines through in this, "fake it till you make it" discussion: Ms. Tippett: So a sermon of yours I wish I could have heard is … Continue reading Faith is given in sufficient quantities to communities
Hope and Recovery
Pat Deegan reflects on her own experience an shares about the need for hope in recovery: He said, I should retire from life and avoid stress. I have come to call my psychiatrist's pronouncement a "prognosis of doom". He was condemning me to a life of handicaptivity wherein I was expected to take high dose … Continue reading Hope and Recovery
The adjacent possible and hope
I heard a radio show this morning about where ideas come from. They interviewed a guy who wrote a book and gave a TED talk on the topic. During the interview he discussed the concept of the adjacent possible and it's importance in forming new ideas. During the interview, he described it as the building … Continue reading The adjacent possible and hope
2014’s top posts: #2
"He'd still be alive" Much has been said this week about the death of Phillip Seymour Hoffman. I've heard two recurring themes. First, that he might still be alive if he had been "treated with an evidence-based" treatment, like buprenorphine. Second, that he might still be alive if he hadn't been inculcated with the disease … Continue reading 2014’s top posts: #2
2014’s Top Posts: #3
Recovery MAINTENANCE There's a lot of commentary out there on Philip Seymour Hoffman's death. Some of it's good, some is bad and there's a lot in between. Much of it has focused overdose prevention and some of it has focused on a need for evidence-based treatments. Anna David puts her finger on something very important. … Continue reading 2014’s Top Posts: #3
Top posts of 2014: #12
Abstinence—The Only Way to Beat Addiction? What killed Philip Seymour Hoffman? According to Anne Fletcher, it wasn't the doctor who prescribed him the pain medication that began his relapse, it wasn't the prescribers of the combination of meds found in his body, it wasn't his discontinuing the behaviors that maintained his recovery for 23 years, … Continue reading Top posts of 2014: #12
Book Review: The Recovering Body
Jennifer Matesa's The Recovering Body: Physical and Spiritual Fitness for Living Clean and Sober seeks to provide "a roadmap to creating our own unique approach to physical recovery" and frames "physical fitness as a living amends to self--a transformative gift analogous to the “spiritual fitness” practices worked on in recovery." She focuses on five areas, … Continue reading Book Review: The Recovering Body
we should never allow the sterile language of science to obscure [blank]
The NY Times published an op-ed on a controversy over evidence-based sentencing. Advocates of punishment profiling argue that it gives sentencing a scientific foundation, allowing better tailoring to crime-prevention goals. Many hope it can reduce incarceration by helping judges identify offenders who can safely be diverted from prison. While well intentioned, this approach is misguided. . . … Continue reading we should never allow the sterile language of science to obscure [blank]
The Emperor of All Maladies
Throwback Sunday - I thought this old post on parallels between cancer, oncology, addiction, addiction treatment and recovery would be a good pairing with yesterday's post on professional attitudes toward difficult to treat illnesses. ================== I've been reading The Emperor of All Maladies and I've been very struck by the parallels between the is philosophical and practical … Continue reading The Emperor of All Maladies